Posts Tagged Full Moon

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Good Day!

How are you faring with the Full Moon lunar phase and Mercury Retrograde? Are you experiencing the push/pull between these two astrological events?

The Full Moon is the time to drive our project or idea over the top, to exert ourselves to bring some matter to fulfillment. This is part of a monthly cycle in which we initiate something new after the New Moon, focus our will to grow our idea into manifestation over the next 10 days of the waxing Moon, and then at Full Moon we take our project public, we present it to our customers, we invite feedback, we expose ourselves!

And then over the next two weeks the Moon leaves its fullness and we start the process that eventually hands the project off to others and we prepare ourselves for the next cycle of inspiration and hard work.

Simple right? This is a cycle we repeat more than 1000 times in an average lifespan so even if we’re not consciously aware of it we’re most definitely unconsciously responding to its rhythms.

However, during this particular lunar cycle we are also experiencing Mercury retrograde, a time for pulling back, letting projects simmer, and giving ourselves time and space to let solutions bubble up from our inner storehouse of wisdom. We experience the three-week Mercury retrograde period about 250 times in an average lifespan, so we’re not unfamiliar with this either. In fact, one of the intentions of this blog is to make us all more familiar with both of these cycles so we can use them to advantage in our business lives.

So the Full Moon phase is telling us to produce NOW! And Mercury retrograde is telling us to withdraw, review, and bide our time. One way we could parse this out normally is to look at the different areas of life each is affecting as reflected in our horoscopes or that of our businesses. Then we could say, well I’m going for it in this area, but I’m holding back and reviewing in that area. Not this time. Retrograde Mercury is in Virgo, the same sign as the Sun. Therefore the areas of our business affected by the Full Moon and retrograde Mercury are the same.

This could feel a bit like an alternating current. A burst of energy and intention may come, followed by a sense that the timing isn’t right to act. A solution may come only to fall apart when you try to implement. Conversely, you may decide to stay at your desk and try to make incremental progress but your employees or customers call on you to be more active. You may feel totally stuck but with an inner urge to produce.

What is the solution? Time. Soon the Moon will be in a phase, waning to darkness, that will be easier to coordinate with Mercury retrograde. And before we know it Mercury will resume direct motion. So if you’re feeling like you’ve fallen through the looking glass, just hang in there a couple more days. The phase of the Moon will be more in sync with Mercury retrograde and at least we’ll feel like both feet are in the same boat – a welcome relief if you ask me!

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I’m always fascinated how the business blogs mirror the current planetary configurations. Today was a great example. With the Sun in Virgo and the Moon in Pisces, I read an article by Peter Bregman of Bregman Partners, Inc., a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review blog. The article was titled, “Why Not Having a Plan Can Be the Best Plan of All.” Even the title is a perfect reflection of this Virgo/Pisces Full Moon.

The Virgo energy generally lives by the motto, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Pisces can tend more to “if you know what you’re looking for, you look for only what you know.” This Full Moon can bring this dichotomy to the surface; shine a light on it so we can see where we stand. And the Full Moon always asks us to balance two opposing viewpoints, to find the still point at which two seeming dualities merge into unity.

Do you tend more to Virgo or more to Pisces? If Virgo, you would be more inclined to plan every step of your day, your year, and your life. You feel productive and safe when every penny is accounted for and every task scheduled. You probably knew what you wanted to be when you grew up, whether or not your life unfolded that way.

If you’re more of a Piscean type, you may tend to dream your way through life, following your inner urgings and watching for signs and signals for what to do next. Perhaps you’re more like Mark Zuckerberg who had no plan when he started Facebook or Larry Page and Sergey Brin who had no idea in 1996 where Google would eventually go. A Piscean business approach sees experimentation and meandering as a valid and often successful strategy.

The Full Moon urges us to recognize that each of these approaches works best in service to the other. Dreaming in service to planning. Planning in service to dreaming. Thinking in service to intuition. Intuition in service to thinking. Scheduling in service to spontaneity. Spontaneity in service to scheduling. If you’re over-weighted in one or the other, can you see a way to bring these into a more constructive alliance?

Here are some quotes that seem to perfectly balance the Virgo/Pisces dichotomy from inspirational writer Napoleon Hill (1883-1970). Hill was a Scorpio with a Virgo Moon heavily influenced by Neptune, the ruler of Pisces.

A goal is a dream with a deadline.

Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.

First comes thought; then organization of that thought into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.

Man, alone, has the power to transform his thoughts into physical reality; man, alone, can dream and make his dreams come true.

Reduce your plan to writing. The moment you complete this, you will have definitely given concrete form to the intangible desire.

Work on integration today!

P.S. Even David Allen, the guru of productive living, sent out his newsletter today with the title, “Let the Lists Fall Where They May!” Seems like he’s under the influence of this Virgo/Pisces Full Moon himself!

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How are you? How did you fare during our season of transformation? If the recent stressful aspects among Saturn, Uranus, Jupiter, and Pluto intersected with sensitive points in your natal astrology or the astrology of your business, I’m sure you feel you’ve been through a baptism of fire! And if you were one of the fortunate ones only peripherally touched by these energies, you’ve probably been called upon to shepherd other people through them, which can be exhausting too.

This week begins a period of assimilation, supported by two factors. Mercury retrograde is excellent for taking a break from our usual mental stance and allowing our intuitive faculties to come to the fore. And the Sun in Virgo marks a period of digestion and absorption of the activity of the past two months. These two factors give us a break from focused action in which we can review and reflect upon what has just passed and where we want to go from here.

Not that this is necessarily easy. The high dose of Pluto energy all summer (or winter for those in southern latitudes) may have revealed aspects of ourselves, our businesses, or those around us that may need to change. However it’s the nature of these outer planet transits that, although we are extremely uncomfortable, we don’t see the clear route to resolution right away. So these next few weeks will call on our patience, as we let practical solutions rise to the surface in their own time. This kind of period calls us on our trust in process and as business owners and leaders this may not be our strong point. Used to boldly forging ahead, it may take all of our will to let matters take their natural course.

The Full Moon on Tuesday can help us see how deep personal humility and surrender to the natural forces in our lives can actually bring our personal desires to fruition. We started this lunar cycle with the Sun and Moon in Leo and initiated a bold, even audacious idea. Now with the Sun in Virgo and the Full Moon in Pisces we learn how effective leadership depends on building a support team, utilizing the right tools, and staying grounded as we implement our idea with step by step precision plus a conscious intention to surrender.

Does this sound harder than the summer just passed? Sometimes a crisis is so engaging the absorption period is a bit of a letdown, the calm after the storm. Just rely on that retrograde Mercury to continue to feed you useful information from your deep, more hidden stores of wisdom. Then these next couple of weeks can be more fruitful than the past few months altogether, as you assimilate and begin to apply all the lessons you’ve recently learned.

Have a restorative week.

Do you have a question for Ellen? See the “Work with Ellen” tab at the top of this site for my Straight to the Point Response service.

I wanted to write a special post about the coming Full Moon, which is exact on July 25, Sunday, at 7:36 MDT.

For as long as I have been studying astrology, I never really noticed until I began writing weekly forecasts how benevolently time and space interact with us here on earth. Through the planetary movements we see how we are given constant challenges and opportunities for growth, while always being supported along the way. For example, I recently noticed that when there are a couple of weeks of really stressful aspects in the sky, indicating obstacles and tension in our daily lives, there follows a very light week astrologically, custom-made, it seems, for assimilation and rest.

We are entering the height of the summer of transformation, when most of the outer planets, the ones that really bring challenge and change, are forming difficult aspects with each other – aspects that indicate opposition, restriction, dilemna, conflict, and eruption. I’m sure you’re feeling this or at least seeing it played out in the lives of people you know; you can’t miss it on the global scene. It’s like life is demanding that we each step up to the plate and decide what we want to create as our future – whether in our businesses, our relationships, or as global citizens. Each of us can see the lines drawn in the sand and must decide where we stand.

Mystic Rectangle

Enter the Full Moon in the middle of all this stress. Often, when the Sun and Moon oppose each other in the sky, the Full Moon illuminates and exacerbates conflict. It is often a time of heightened energy and demand. Yet this Full Moon performs an interesting feat: it serves to balance all of the other tensions of this time. It forms a pattern in the sky called a Mystic Rectangle which some astrologers call the aspect of “practical spirituality.” The planets are still forming their difficult aspects yet the Sun and Moon, from across the sky, provide relief valves to siphon off the stressful energies. Harmonious aspects pour down, balancing the intensity with harmony, support, and good will. The configurations bringing difficulty this summer are softened by the Sun and the Moon, allowing the energies to pull together in alignment.

So this weekend is the time, par excellence, to come to terms with whatever difficulties you’re grappling with in your business or personal relationships. Solutions will present themselves and potentials for the future will become apparent. The main risk is we have become so used to dealing with hardships, we may not notice that there is an open road ahead.

If the energies of this time are not affecting you personally, then it is the perfect time to mediate for someone else. Instead of us versus them, we can find our way to balance with this Full Moon. And take note, the solutions you reach this weekend will keep you rock steady for the rest of the summer.

The Master Potter

I once heard an adage that a spiritual teacher is like a potter, pressing and shaping with one hand, while the other hand firmly supports the clay from within. This coming Full Moon is like that master potter, revealing the difficulties and pointing the way out, too.

Turbulent barely begins to describe the week ahead, a week so full of challenges and opposing forces that we’ll be called upon to be our very best just to remain centered. But it’s exciting, too, and I have full faith that we all will step up and take advantage of these energies with courage and enthusiasm. In fact the entire week is bristling with energy that may feel overwhelming at times but I’ll tell you, we are all up for the challenge. We’ve been waiting for breakthrough and we are powerful enough and nimble enough to channel these forces beneficially.

Almost every planetary alignment this week is confrontational and the energies cluster around the major squares and oppositions that are the highlight of this summer – the summer of transformation. While I’ve listed them day by day, each of the energies below will color the entire week with the Eclipse on Saturday lasting even longer.

Monday

The week begins with the Solstice, the point each year where the Sun reaches its most Northern or Southern point and then begins to head in the other direction.* If the days in your hemisphere have been waxing, they begin to wane; if they’ve been waning they begin to lengthen. This is a marked turning point in the entire year. The Sun enters the zodiac sign of Cancer and a major adjustment point is reached. It’s time to examine the plans you set in motion at the New Year and decide whether to continue, expand, or just scrap the whole thing.

And scrapping the whole thing might just be called for, because once the Sun enters Cancer it meets the conflicting energy of Uranus in Aries. On the day of the Solstice we’re unusually open to changing direction and the sudden, unpredictable, inciting energy of Uranus in Aries may make us feel that nothing at all is better than the tried and true. A major change is coming – this may be the day!

Wednesday

Then on Wednesday, that new Cancer Sun meets Jupiter in Aries. Jupiter in Aries says new, new, expand, travel, learn, there are opportunities everywhere as long as they’re far from here; and the Cancer Sun may just be ready to be carried away. It’s similar to Monday’s Sun/Uranus square in that the Cancer Sun would love to initiate something new but feels an obligation to be faithful to what has come before. This could incite a riot within. It’s time to come back to the theme of the week: we are up to the challenge to invite in the new without destroying what we’ve built so far.

Thursday

Thursday’s all about our minds and reasoning processes; it asks, can you be reasonable, rational and also tuned in? With Mercury receiving distinct and different messages from Saturn and Neptune, there’s a way to take advantage of both but it will take flexibility and setting aside preconditions. When our minds are influenced by Saturn, they form the perfect container for whisperings from the mystical realms but only if you are willing to take those insights seriously and commit them to pen and paper. With the right vessel, this is the day to store the wisdom of the week, so get that vessel polished and ready to receive!

Friday

Friday is still about our minds, but you may feel that you’ve lost your edge as Mercury transitions into Cancer. Gone is the incisive wit of Gemini; in its place is a message full of meaning but you’ll probably feel like you’re listening to someone speaking under water.

It’s made doubly, or triply difficult because Mercury in Cancer forms an aspect with Uranus in Aries, which usually means clarity and insight, but Cancer and Aries are about as incompatible as two signs could be. Our thought processes are emotional and reactive due to Mercury’s placement in Cancer and Uranus is impatient with delays and “feelings.” Add to this an opposition between the Sun and Pluto, the ultimate signal of a power struggle, and your cup just might boil over. Take the necessary precautions to be sure you vent this pressure in an appropriate manner and time so you end the day with no regrets.

Saturday

Saturday begins with Mercury and Jupiter in a shooting match and we know who will lose this one. (See Friday) Too much information! You may want to close your office door and turn off the electronic devices to get some peace. And really that’s a pretty good way to spend the Eclipse.

Today holds the Full Moon with the Moon in Capricorn and the Sun in Cancer. It’s also a Partial Lunar Eclipse and it’s a whopper! The crossed energies of the outer planets in play all this summer are involved in this Eclipse, with the Moon at the exact same degree as Pluto in Capricorn. With this Moon the whole situation gets personal.

We all know the global economy is struggling, that government debt is spiraling out of control, that major businesses are imploding and gasping their last breaths. But with this Full Moon Eclipse, it hits home. These energies pour into our most personal lives, into our businesses and families. Even if you don’t have natal planets directly affected by these massive and conflicting energies, people around you will. Our collective challenges become personal challenges, and this may be a good thing – it brings the power to mend the whole into our hands as well.

Sunday

On Sunday you may wish you had stayed in bed. People want to unburden themselves and you may hear things you wish had been kept underground. But when Mercury opposes Pluto, as it does today, the secrets will come out.

And Saturn in Virgo is at odds with Neptune in Aquarius. Saturn takes the blinders off our idealism and relationships we thought were totally supportive may be seen as less so. Those you thought were your allies may turn out to be “frenemies” and yet, some you thought were overbearing and demanding accountability may turn out to be your true supporters. If you can discriminate who is who you’ll gain something of lasting value.

Remember, we are equal to these challenges. It’s our time; let’s do it!

*From a geocentric point of view.

See the sidebar for further discussions about Uranus in Aries, Pluto in Capricorn, and Jupiter in Aries.

Happy Full Moon Day! And welcome, Uranus, to Aries, to the point of new beginnings, new adventures, new challenges, new discoveries, a new fresh start. Today, with Uranus, we can set down the last cycle of 84 years, say goodbye, and start anew.

The Moon begins today in the last few degrees of Scorpio. Since most of the outer planets are in the final degrees of their respective signs, the Moon forms aspects to them, one after another, all day. First she sextiles Saturn, then trines Jupiter, squares Neptune, trines Uranus, enters Sagittarius where she semisextiles Pluto, and then becomes Full. Only then does Uranus cross into Aries.

I thought this was really cool. It’s like all of the outer planets show up today for the moment of birth. And each planet gives a blessing to the new start. Saturn gives discipline; Jupiter gives luck; Neptune gives compassion; Uranus gives insight; and Pluto gives depth. After the Moon has collected each of these gifts, she stands in perfect balance to the Sun in Gemini to announce the new cycle that is beginning.

Today brings you into contact with each of these planetary energies. Some will come in temporal form and others come unseen. Welcome all of them. Really it’s like a party, a christening. Join the fun. This is the first day of the next 84 years!

What are some ways to honor the energy of Uranus? Here are some ideas:

Buy a new piece of technology.

Join a humanitarian cause.

Take your telescope out and look at the Moon.

Read up on some of the trends that began last time Uranus was in Aries. (See a listing in this post, Welcome Uranus in Aries.)

Speak to someone 84 years old. Ask them how they’re feeling these days. Ask them what’s new. Ask them to mentor you.

Ask your younger friends and employees what they think will be the next cool invention.

Feed your mind.

Dabble in a medium you’ve never tried before.

Explore Uranus using the links below.

Check out this cool video. It’s “Time Keeps on Slipping” by the Steve Miller Band. I picked it because it has some awesome Uranus-type images, from the changing sky to electronics. The lyrics remind me of Uranus, with its future orientation and the video even has a great Aries image at the end. See if you can catch it!

Don’t forget. If you have an astrology-related business question (or a business-related astrology question) send it to me at ellen@astro4business.com. I’ll answer it in these posts, anonymously of course, and we can all learn from each other’s experiences. I look forward to it! Have a question now? Email it and let’s get started!

How has your week been so far? Are you feeling the approaching Full Moon and the transition of Uranus into Aries on Thursday?

The Full Moon, a 29 day cycle

The Full Moon is a monthly phenomenon and the Moon’s cycles in astrology primarily represent the ups and downs of everyday life. The Moon corresponds to the people we meet day to day and the emotional reactions and responses that form our daily experience. The Full Moon is a peak of activity, interaction, and accomplishment. An idea, project, or alliance born with the New Moon gains speed and traction in the two weeks that the Moon waxes to Full, enjoys a few days of fruition, and then loses energy as we approach the next New Moon. Then the cycle begins again.

Given the constant repetitiveness of the cycle and its relatively short duration, you can sense that the Moon affects the rolling, repeating, personal aspects of life: what time do you go to your desk each day? What will you eat today? Gassing up the car. Pruning the roses. Balancing your bank statement. Weekly meetings with employees. Paying the bills. Washing the clothes. Heading home from work each day.

Today, the day before the Full Moon, it’s like we’ve pushed a boulder almost all of the way up a hill. We’re so close, with just a bit more exertion we’ll top the hill and the boulder will begin to roll on its own. And today, we’re lucky because there is an aspect between the Moon and Mars that will give us that extra push we need, a burst of will power that can take us over the top. Keep going; you’re almost there.

Uranus in Aries, an 84 year cycle

The transition of Uranus into Aries on Thursday is a much more far-reaching event. Unlike the monthly cycle of the Moon, the cycle of Uranus is 84 years! Standing at the cusp of this event is like standing at the birth of a baby, or a scientific discovery, or a new government. This is not a coming and going kind of event; it marks the beginning of a long, long cycle which will most likely outlast our lifetimes.

It’s very natural to feel in limbo at this time, or in “the neutral zone” as William Bridges defines the term in his book, Managing Transitions. It is an in-between time that can be uncomfortable with its lack of clear direction for the future. We know the old is dying but we don’t know yet what is being born.

So this week can potentially feel pretty weird. One part of us resonates with the Full Moon and the push to accomplish; the other part of us feels the transition point between the old and the new and an underlying disorientation. There’s a lot to do in our daily lives, but the bigger picture is fuzzy at best.

Does this sound about right? There’s a fascinating interplay of energies all week. Tomorrow, we’ll look at some suggestions for how to deal with “the neutral zone.”

Don’t forget. If you have an astrology-related business question (or a business-related astrology question) send it to me at ellen@astro4business.com. I’ll answer it in these posts, anonymously of course, and we can all learn from each other’s experiences. I look forward to it! Have a question now? Email it and let’s get started!

Phases of the Moon, as seen from the Northern Hemisphere. The Southern hemisphere will see a mirror image of this phase. (Source:Wikipedia)

Hello, everyone.

This week is all about one thing. Well, two, if you count the Full Moon, but the ingress of Uranus into Aries is the really big news. I think the Full Moon with the Moon in Sagittarius and the Sun in Gemini is like a giant spotlight announcing the entrance of Uranus into Aries. When you see the Full Moon on Thursday evening, remember that, invisible to us, Uranus is sliding over the point separating Aries from Pisces.

Uranus’ cycle around the Sun is 84 years; the last time it entered Aries was in 1927. Since Aries is the first sign of the zodiac, this week is the beginning of a new Uranus cycle. Aries carries the energy of new beginnings and of the establishment of differentiation from the whole. When Uranus was in Pisces we saw the ascendancy of the group and technological breakthroughs focused on connecting across barriers. Aries is a very different energy. Aries is the spark of individuation that causes a person, or a country, or a movement to want to stand outside the group, to establish itself as an independent entity. Aries is much more focused on individual achievement, on making a name for oneself separate from the crowd.

Uranus governs technology, innovation, invention, and breakthrough on a societal scale. Let’s see: has there been a major cycle of innovation over the last 84 years? Let’s look at a few of the breakthroughs that happened last time Uranus was in Aries.

First feature length talkie (1927)

Big bang theory developed by Georges Lemaitre (1927)

Shanghai Massacre begins Chinese Civil War (1927)

Oscar DePriest is the 1st black Representative elected in a Northern State in USA (1928)

Discovery of Penicillin and its ability to fight bacterial infection(1928)

First large scale Jewish-Arab violence in Jerusalem (1929)

Einstein presents Unified Field theory (1929)

Stockmarket crash, 1st financial disaster of the Great Depression (1929)

First analog computer, called a differential analyzer (1930)

Refrigerators made safe for household use (1931)

Electron microscope invented (1931)

Amelia Earhart flies the Atlantic solo (1932)

Atom split first time by Cockcroft and Walton (1932)

Roosevelt elected and utters famous statement, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” (1933)

Nazi terror begins; Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany (1933)

Mao Zedong begins Long March in China (1934)

Securities and Exchange Commission established (1934)

Persia becomes Iran (1935)

Nazis enact Nuremberg Laws to prevent racial pollution (1935)

DuPont creates Nylon, the first synthetic fabric (1935)

Of course there are many more examples and many achievements outside of this particular time period. I chose these as examples of the kind of inventiveness that marks the beginning of the cycle. In each of these examples you can clearly see two facets: incredible developments in society and the kind of innovations that went far beyond the beginning of the cycle and affected the whole of life over the entire Uranus cycle of 84 years.

Uranus will spend just two ½ months in Aries before, due to retrograde motion, it returns to Pisces in mid-August. It remains in Pisces until March 2011 when it reenters Aries for the next seven years. I think this makes the next two ½ months most interesting. What glimmers will we see of the coming time? I think we’ll all sense a change in the tone of societal advances and be more than willing to spend a little more time in interdependent Pisces before we step firmly into Aries next Spring. But keep track of what’s new around you and in your business, because change is coming!

For further reading on Uranus in Aries, here are some links to articles on Uranus that were written for the International Astrology Blog Carnival last March. They lay down a good foundation, even though not strictly written for business entrepreneurs. I’ve written a short explanation of each.

Ellen says – This is a great explanation of the interplay of the energies and suggestions for how to cope. Not business, but good.

Ellen says – A great astrologer, Steven Forrest looks at Uranus in each of the houses of the natal chart. Not business oriented but that doesn’t stop us from making the correlations. Remember, if you don’t know where Uranus is transiting in your chart, see the sidebar. I’ll send you your chart and let you know where Uranus is.

Ellen says – Molly Hall explains Uranus in Aries to teens or to anyone who’s ever been a teen. A great read based on The Fool card of the Tarot, she gives a series of tips about how to walk into the coming trend.

Ellen says – CJ Wright gives us insight into Uranus by sharing her reader’s stories of their Uranus transits. The first-hand stories really give you a sense of how Uranus operates. In the comments she responds to a reader saying she thinks Uranus in Aries may be a catalyst for entrepreneurs, and I agree.

Ellen says – This one’s really great, especially if you’re interested in Second Life, as I am. I never thought of SL as connected to Uranus before, and I wonder how it will change when Uranus moves into Aries. It’s a great read.

Don’t forget. If you have an astrology-related business question (or a business-related astrology question) send it to me at ellen@astro4business.com. I’ll answer it in these posts, anonymously of course, and we can all learn from each other’s experiences. I look forward to it! Have a question now? Email it and let’s get started!

About Ellen Longo

Ellen Longo

Welcome, everyone: old friends, clients, new friends, those of you I’ve met, those I’ll meet through these pages. Welcome to a long-term, mutually beneficial conversation about the wisdom of astrology as it pertains to the success and profitability of your business.

Whether you are in the start-up phase, are currently running a successful business, or planning a change, alignment with the natural cycles of the planets can inform your path.--> More

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This is the story of how I arrived at the point of writing a blog about the intersection of business and astrology.